Music has always been part of DJ Respo’s life and during his workshop with participants he found out that some of them loved music too.
Long before he learned how to use professional DJ equipment or perform for an audience, he remembers watching his father play different tapes and developing his own love for music.
Years later, while working a job in Ghana, that interest began to look like something more.
DJ Respo discovered that his love for music could become a skill — and eventually an opportunity.
That journey became part of the lesson he shared with Skills2Stars participants during a hands-on DJ Skills Workshop, where young people had the opportunity to step behind professional DJ equipment and experience what it takes to bring different songs together.
From listening to mixing
The session moved beyond simply talking about DJing.
Participants were introduced to professional DJ equipment and learned the purpose of different buttons, controls and features on the decks.
DJ Respo demonstrated how DJs select songs, control sound and transition between tracks. Participants also learned how two different pieces of music can be mixed together in a way that sounds smooth and enjoyable to an audience.
Then it was their turn to try.
With guidance from DJ Respo, participants got behind the decks and began experimenting with the equipment themselves.
“DJing is more than just playing songs,” DJ Respo told the participants. “You have to understand the music, know how to bring different songs together and think about how it will sound to the people listening.”
A love for music that started at home
While teaching the technical side of DJing, DJ Respo also shared the story behind his own journey.
His interest in music began at an early age, partly from watching his father play different tapes at home. But it was while working in Ghana that he began to realize there could be more to that interest.
“I have always loved music, and I remember watching my dad play different tapes when I was younger,” he said. “Later, while I was working in Ghana, I discovered that DJing was something I could actually learn and do. Something that started with simply enjoying music became a skill.”
For DJ Respo, that experience is one reason he believes children and teenagers should have opportunities to explore different skills early in life.
Young people may not immediately pursue everything they are introduced to, he said, but exposure can expand their understanding of what is possible.
“I believe young people should be introduced to different skills early,” he said. “When they get to see and try different things, it opens their minds to possibilities they may not have known were there.”
“I already love music”
That message resonated with one participant who was particularly excited to get behind the DJ equipment.
She said she already loved music, but seeing how a DJ could use what looked like “a bunch of keys and buttons” to bring different songs together made her even more interested in learning how music is created and mixed.
“I already love music, but I didn't know you could use all these buttons to bring different songs together and make them sound good,” she said. “Now I want to learn more about making and mixing music. Maybe one day I can make mixes that people will want to pay to listen to.”
For Skills2Stars, moments like this are at the heart of the program.
The goal of introducing young people to photography, writing, publishing, hairmaking, cooking, baking, makeup, DJing and other practical skills is not to determine their careers for them.
It is to give them the opportunity to see, touch, try and discover.
A child who loves listening to music may never consider what happens behind the DJ booth until someone allows them to stand behind one.
A participant pressing those buttons for the first time may simply leave with a fun memory. Another may leave curious enough to keep learning.
And years later, that curiosity could become a hobby, a side income, a career or even a business.
For DJ Respo, it started with watching his father play tapes.
For one of the Skills2Stars participants, perhaps it started with her first afternoon behind the decks.
